Heney liepmann



(No Model.)

H. LIEPMANN.

APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING METALS FROM ORES OR ALLOYS BY ELEGTROLYSIS.

N0. $2,022. Patented Apr. 26, 1887.

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Wm mm A gm/DMZ 13 (l Heine N. PETERS. Pfiolwhlhagmpher, Wanhinglcn. ac

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY LIEPMANN, OF LONDON, COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND, AS-

SIGNOR TO THE GASSEL GOLD EXTRAOTING COMPANY, (LIMITED,) or

GLASG OV, SCOTLAND.

APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING METALS FROM ORES OR ALLOYS BY ELECTROLYSI S- SJPECIFIC'ATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 362,022, dated April 26, 1887.

Application filed October 6, 1886. Serial No. 215,478. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY LIEPMANN, managing director of the Liepmann Carbon Company, (Limited,) of Nelson Wharf, Millwall, London, in the county of Middlesex, England, chemist, Ph. D., F. O. S., &c., a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at 40 Lexham Gardens, London, in the county of MiddleseX, England, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for Separating Metals from Ores or Alloys b'y Electrolysis, of which the following is a specification.

In the process of treating auriferous substances where chlorine is generated by electrolyzing a solution of common salt or other suitable substance and caused to dissolve the gold at the anode and then carry the chloride of gold over to the cathode to be deposited, the anode and cathode being separated by a par tition of asbcstus or other suitable material, (such a process being described in the specification of an application for a patent filed by Henry Itenner Cassel, March 8, 1886, Serial No. 194,471,) it has been found of advantage in practice during the first stage of the process to prevent the alkaline liquors produced at the cathode during the electrolysis of such alkaline chlorides from diffusing or passing back through or around the asbestos partition into the anode-compartment. This diffusion or return of alkaline liquors is injurious during this first stage of the operation, because the chlorine is readily absorbed by these alkaline liquors, and a sufiicient decomposition of the compounds constituting refractory elements of the ores cannot, therefore, take place under the circumstances, and the gold remains in a more or less unattacked state.

The object of this inventionis to maintain during the'first stage of the operation either an acid or a neutral solution in the anode-compartment, so that the nascent chlorine may act with full power upon the base metals or refractory elements.

The apparatus constituting apart of this improvement is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure I is a side elevation thereof. Fig. II is a vertical section of one end thereof; and

Fig. III is a transverse section on line i it of Fig. II.

Similar numerals indicate corresponding parts in the ditferent figures.

The apparatus comp rises two similar hollow standards, I, mounted on suitable supports, 2, a rotary drum, 3, and tubular trunnions 4, attached to the ends of said drum and having their bearings in the hollow standards. A driving-shaft, 5, is supported in bearings attached to one of the standards, said shaft being provided with a driving-wheel, 6, at one end, and a pinion, 7, at the Opposite end. The drum is provided with a cog-wheel, S, with which the pinion 7 meshes for causing the rotation of the drum. The tanks may be connected with each other by a pipe, 9.

The drum constitutes the anode-compartment of the apparatus, and the hollow trunnions and hollow standards constitute the cathode-compartment-s thereof. The drum is provided with a series of carbon anodes, 10, the ends of which project through the ends of the drum and are connected by metallic bands 11. Brushes 12, properly insulated and sup ported in brackets l3, attached to the hollow standards, bear upon the bands 11, and serve to conduct the current to the anodes within the drum, being connected with the positive pole of the apparatus by means of wires 14. The hollow standards are connected with the negative pole of the apparatus by means of wires 15. The drum is provided with handholes covered by hand-hole plates 16, the plates being preferably packed with rubber to effect tight joints. The opposite ends of the drum are provided with openings 17, over which filtering-diaphragms 18, composed of asbestos or other suitable material, are fixed. These diaphragms are of suchacharacterasto prevent the escape of the ores within the drum, and at the same time to permit the passage of the current and of the metals in solution from the drum or an ode-compartment into the trunnions constituting cathode-compartments.

As thus described the apparatus is similar to that shown in the application of Henry Renner (Jasscl, hereinbefore referred to.

In this case supplemental or removable diaphragms 19 are placed over the diaphragms I0 18, and are designed to be held over the openings 17 against the diaphragms 18 during the first stage of the process. This removable diaphragm or partition may be composed of earthenware, or of compressed layers of asbestus cloth, and must be constructed with such density or thickness as to prevent the diffusion or passage of the cathode liquors or the metals in solutioninto the anode-compartment,while at the same time permitting the passage of the electric current. This diaphragm is mounted on a frame, 20, which is connected with an adj ustable screw -rod, 21. This screw rod is supported at its outer end in the end of the trunnions, passing through a stuifing-box, 22, therein. Atits inner end it is supported by an eye, 23, in the crossbar 24, fixed within the trunnion, the eye and rod being screwthreaded, so that the turning of the rod will cause a longitudinal movement thereof and effect the adjustment or removal of the dia phragm 19. That part of the trunnion within the hollow standard is provided with openings or perforations 25, to establish communication with the hollow standard.

In carrying out this process, the ores in a powdered condition are placed in the anode compartment, which is separated from the cathode-compartment by the removable partition or diaphragm of sufficient density to prevent the passage of the cathode liquors in solution while permitting the passage of the electric current. The drum is then set in motion and the electric current switched on. The ores are thus agitated and subjected to the electric current and to the nascent chlorine until the refractory elements are sufficiently decomposed, the dissolved metals being retained within the anode-compartment during this step of the process. The dense porous partition is then removed and lime or alkaline earth, as described in Letters Patent of the United States, No. 300,951, is added to the anode solution, the anode-compartment being then separated from the cathode-compartment by the thin porous filter, which permits the passage of the metals in solution as well as the electric current, While preventing the escape of the ores from the anode-compartment. The

electric subjection and mechanical agitation of the charge is then continued in the presence of thelime, and the base metals and other substances will be precipitated, while the chloride of gold will pass through the thin dlaphragm and the gold will be deposited at the cathode in a practically pure state.

In some cases the addition of lime in the second stage of the process may be omitted, as the removal of the dense porous diaphragm permits the alkaline liquors to diffuse back through the thin asbestus diaphragm lnto the anode-compartment, and the acids formed will thus be neutralized and the iron and other metallic solutionsprecipitated without the aid of lime.

I claim as my invention' 1. In an apparatus for separating metals from ores or alloys by electrolysis, the combination of an anode-compartment,a cathode'compartment, a filtering-diaphragm, as described, separating said compartments, a dense porous diaphragm for separating said compartments during one step of the operation, and mechanism whereby the dense porous diaphragm may be placed in apposition with or removed from the opening between the anode and cathode compartments, substantially as described.

2. In an apparatus for separating metals from ores or alloys by electrolysis, the combination, with ajournaled drum constituting the anodecompartment, of a trunnion constituting the cathode-compartment, said drum having an opening at its end into said trunnion, a movable porous diaphragm for closing said opening, an adjustable screw-rod to which said dia phragm is attached, and supports within the trunnion for said screw-rod, substantially as described.

HENRY LTEPMANN.

\Vitnesses:

DAVID MURRAY, RICHARD LIEPMANN. 

